The most telling aspect of these incidents, says veteran Seattle developer Christy Nicol, is that none of the company leaders involved appeared to realize initially that they’d done something wrong. They had simply crafted messages aimed at young men, apparently assuming: Who else would be drawn to programming jobs? “It was the mindset seated deep in the subconscious that programmers are male,” she says.

Or at least that all programmers want to be in on the joke.

A problem being dealt with at big companies, but among startups, not so much.

It was then I realized: I have been assimilated. I am become Borg. I have betrayed the trust of my fellow ex-librarians. (Although shelf-reading, book dusting, and card sorting are skills I hope never to re-acquire. Ever.)

Like it or not, practices don’t just reflect our commitments, they shape them.